Even though we have been here for more than 14 months, and have walked more days than we haven't, there is so much territory to cover that we discover new areas from time to time. Today was a day for discovering.

Brian Marshall dropped by for lunch and a chat about the development he is championing with which I may or may not be involved. As is typical in a situation like this one, the owner of the land has decided, now that he has someone interested in purchasing his property, that it is worth considerably more than a market study would indicate. This particular owner has agonized and delayed for a couple months over this transaction and has even gone so far as to say that he has another interested party. Today he met with Brian and announced, with apparently quite a bit of hand wrenching and rolling eyes, that he thinks his land is worth 80% to 100% more than the market study indicates but that there is some flexibility in his price. My advice to Brian was to tell him that if he has another interested party who is willing to pay that kind of money for this land, he probably should take it.

Brian and his partners have a couple other alternative sites they are considering and although this initial site was probably the sexiest of the group under scrutiny, it is a whole lot less sexy at 100% over value. I think the other interested party is imaginary and if Brian's group shows an indication that they will walk from the deal, a more reasonable number might be agreed upon.

After dishing out this advice over lunch fresh from my panini press, I sent Brian on his way to another meeting and I took Abner down to the Blue Ridge Parkway to check out some new territory. The weather has turned to t-shirt and shorts again and today was sunny with a light breeze. . . perfect hiking weather. We parked at the intersection of highway 25 and the Parkway and set off to explore a section of the MTS trail. For those who haven't either read or studied and remembered my emails of the past year, the MTS trail (mountains-to-sea) is a footpath that begins at the Appalachian Trail on the Tennessee border in Great Smoky Mountain National Park and meanders to the East, terminating at Nag's Head on the Outer Banks. When completed, and estimates range from 8 to 14 years for this to happen, it will be 1,000 miles long, entirely within North Carolina and will provide hikers a continuous pedestrian route from the Mountains to the Sea.

Abner and I had only walked about three small sections of it prior to today's stroll, but I noticed on a National Geographic map I have of hiking trails in this region that there is a fairly lengthy stretch that follows the Parkway around the Southern edge of Asheville, so that is what we started to explore today. We walked for about an hour out and an hour back through rolling terrain, mostly in fairly dense woods. The trail is very pretty and well kept. The entire portion we were on is on land that used to be part of Biltmore Estate when George and Edith Vanderbilt still lived there. There are a couple funky old wooden bridges that date back to when it was part of the route from Biltmore House to Vanderbilt's lodge at the top of Mt. Pisgah. It never ceases to amaze me that this one estate has provided so much preserved natural environment that is freely available to the public.

Geese and ducks are nesting everywhere. One of the factoids I remember from God knows where is that geese are among the few animals known to mate for life. This is very apparent with the ones at Biltmore. All winter, the geese that spend the season on the Bass Pond and the lagoon just kind of hang out in large groups and make noise. They swim around periodically sticking their heads down (and butts up) to grab a fish, but they don't seem to do much else.

In the spring though, they clearly pair off and nest. There is one pair in each of the three aquatic gardens within the Italian Garden. Another is in the small meadow above the Bass Pond (and they squawk like crazy if Abner and I are within 100 feet of their nest), and every 50 feet or so in the big meadow just south of the lagoon you can see one pair after another. The moms sit on the nests and the dads either hang out or kind of march around trying to look threatening. These geese are so well fed it is amazing they can fly. Most of them, particularly the ones that live on the lagoon, don't bother flying unless it is absolutely necessary. A whole gaggle (I have always wanted to use that word in a real sentence) of them will mosey across the road between the lagoon and the hillside that faces the water where they hang out and sun themselves. They seem completely unconcerned about traffic, which comes to a grinding halt when a parade of them is crossing. . .usually to the accompaniment of the quiet click of digital cameras hanging out of car windows. The whole scene can be pretty funny.

I am getting down to the last week or so before my springtime guests start arriving. My intention is to keep posting as regularly as possible but when I do have company there may be some gaps.